Nancy Guthrie - Hoping for Something Better: Refusing to Settle for Life as Usual

Nancy Guthrie speaks to the person in need of courage. She urges us to look down less and up more. Grabbing on to his hope is our only hope this book prompts us to do just that.

M AX L UCADO

Pastor and New York Times bestselling author

Nancy knows the comfort and sufficiency of Gods goodness and love in the midst of loss and grief. Many have benefited from her transparent and biblical response to her sovereign journey. Many have heard her strong testimony of trust and confidence in her foundation of faith Christ Jesus the Lord. Hoping for Something Better will lift our gaze to look at Jesus, quickening our praise, adoration, and worship of Him who alone is worthy. Study and embrace the strong meat of this portion of Gods Word as found in the book of Hebrews as it fits you for the course laid out for your journey of faith.

J ANE P ATETE

Womens Ministries Coordinator, Presbyterian Church in America

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Hoping for Something Better: Refusing to Settle for Life as Usual

Copyright 2007 by Nancy Guthrie. All rights reserved.

Cover photo taken by Stephen Vosloo. Copyright 2007 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Designed by Jessie McGrath

Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard St., Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible,New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked The Message are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, second edition, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Guthrie, Nancy.

Hoping for something better : refusing to settle for life as usual / Nancy Guthrie.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-4143-1307-8 (sc)

1. Bible. N.T. Hebrews Devotional literature. 2. Christian women Prayers and devotions. I. Title.

BS2775.54.G87 2007

248.843 dc22 2007004460

ISBN 978-1-4143-2870-6 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-4143-2869-0 (Kindle); ISBN 978-1-4143-7891-6 (Apple)

Build: 2021-04-21 15:15:55 EPUB 3.0

I lovingly dedicate this book to the women of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. How vividly I remember the first time I went away with you for a retreat in 1994. Id never been around so many women who wanted to know God so intimately and walk with him so closely. I saw in you a passion and commitment I didnt have, and you made me want it. Your lives showed me there was something better.

I thank you for sharing the unexpected joys and deep sorrows of life with me over these years together. Thank you for giving me the space and time to be sad and the freedom to be me with all my flaws. And I thank you most of all for allowing me the privilege of standing before you to teach the book of Hebrews. You cant imagine how thrilling it was for me the culmination of a long-term dream and the birthplace of this book.

God had planned something better for us....

H EBREWS 11:40

I S IT REALLY ALL about Jesus?

Back in the mid 60s when I first embraced him, I would tell people it was all about Jesus, but I had no idea what that meant. Sure, Christianity was centered on Christ, but mainly he was the one who got my spiritual engine started. As long as I filled up on Jesus every morning during my quiet time, I was able to putter along just fine, thank you.

Things changed in the late 60s after I crushed my spinal cord in a diving accident that left me a quadriplegic. I felt desperate and afraid. Oh God, I cant do this. I cant live like this! My engine would sputter and die before the day even started. I felt small and fragile. Vulnerable. Hopeless. This time I needed him urgently. Every hour. Every minute. Or else Ill suffocate, God! I was beginning to see that life really is all about Jesus.

Somewhere in the 70s I realized that the Bible is all about him too. I would read how Jesus is in the Old concealed; in the New, revealed. So I spent hours sitting in front of Gods Word especially the Old Testament flipping this way and that with my mouth stick, hoping to catch a glimpse of him in Genesis or Jeremiah, Leviticus, or Lamentations. If I could but find Jesus in the whispers and omens between those ancient pages, I somehow knew Id gain a clearer, brighter picture of him. But it wasnt easy. Proverbs 25:2 was right: It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.

The New Testament wasnt any easier. Flipping through the Gospels and Epistles, I finally landed upon the book of Hebrews. In the very first chapter I knew I had stumbled upon something pretty unique. Hebrews is the Bible commenting on itself, like a built-in, Spirit-inspired owners manual, like a heaven-sent dictionary or commentary explaining just where and why the Savior is spoken of here, there, and everywhere throughout the timeless pages of the Word of God.

Hebrews provides the hieroglyphics of heaven. It speaks of a better country... a grand cloud of witnesses... a heavenly Jerusalem... and thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly. I liked that kind of talk. It was hopeful. In its pages, I was even able to crack the code behind the whispers and omens of why God had allowed my affliction. In Hebrews I found a home for my aching heart.

Now fast-forward some forty years, to the autumn of 2006. One night after I was situated in bed, my husband, Ken, pulled up a chair, reached for his glasses, and opened his Bible. We had been reading through the Bible as part of our nighttime routine, and that night he announced we had arrived at the book of Hebrews. I turned my head on the pillow and smiled for the next few evenings I knew wed be basking in the light of this most unusual and marvelous book. The next morning when I wheeled into my office, my smile grew brighter. There on my desk sat the manuscript for